Liverpool legend Souness: I turned down Hearts chance

Graeme Souness has revealed that he rejected the chance to play for hometown team Heart of Midlothian when he was a youngster.

Graeme Souness has revealed that he rejected the chance to play for hometown team Heart of Midlothian when he was a youngster.

The Edinburgh product, who went on to star for Liverpool and Middlesbrough, has spoken of how he occasionally followed the Jambos at Tynecastle and even trained with the club when he was a teenager before taking the opportunity to sign with Tottenham in 1970.

“I was very much a local boy in terms of Hearts. I remember going to see Tommy Traynor play, Jim Cruickshank was in goal, Donald Ford up front,” he said.

“I watched all these players but it wasn’t a week in, week out kind of thing. I didn’t walk in with my maroon scarf on. It was occasional.

“My family were all from Leith, but I was brought up in Saughton Mains and Hearts were the local club.

“I stayed in Gorgie for three years when I went to live with my grandmother in Wardlaw Place, which was three streets from Tynecastle.

“I actually trained with Hearts for a period of time when I was a young boy. I was about 13 and I used to train at Tynecastle and over at Parkhead as well.

“I did have an opportunity to sign for Hearts but I decided to go to England instead.”